Judge grants restraining order prohibiting the city from removing OWS

Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear, descended on Zuccotti Park overnight in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street[2] headquarters that Mayor Bloomberg said had become an “intolerable situation.”

Hours later, a judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from enforcing rules of the plaza — like a ban on tents and tarps — that she said were published “after the occupation began.” Bloomberg said at a City Hall briefing that the city had planned to let people back into the park at 8 a.m. but decided to keep it closed while officials evaluated the order.

Both sides were due in court at 11:30 a.m. See the order here[3]. About an hour before the hearing, hundreds of protesters marched back to the park demanding to be let back in. Some were waving the court order.

In the overnight raid, many protesters in the two-month-old occupation left peacefully, but some refused to go, chaining themselves to trees and to each other. They chanted at police, “Whose park? Our park!”